House of Dolls
by Naidi
Summary: 'One, because I'm not the weakling that needs constant protection any longer,' she mentally added, 'and two, because dancing in a bar in a harem outfit is one of the top five things I never want anyone to see me doing. Especially Sasuke.'
1. Undisclosed Desires

**_Author's Note: _**_Heya, everyone, and thanks for stopping by :) This is basically me finally deciding to contribute to the fandom I've known and loved for years now. This little story is nothing special, but it will hopefully help me ease into writing. Hope you enjoy :)_

_**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto._

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><p>He was a lucky man, Sasuke decided. Very lucky. How else would he describe the fact that after defeating his brother and returning to Konoha expecting to be jailed (or worse, executed), he got off relatively easy. He had just finished his one year probation and, more recently, successfully passed the Jounin exam.<p>

Of course, once he really thought about it, he realized that luck had pretty much nothing to do with it. No, what really made a difference were his two teammates that not only healed him and dragged his sorry ass back to Konoha, but also managed to convince the Godaime Hokage to go easy on him.

He had to be honest with himself this time. Naruto and Sakura have done so much for him, and even though he might have difficulty expressing it, he would forever be grateful. So much that he made it his personal goal to prove himself worthy of their friendship and dedication.

He would not fail them again.

Sasuke rounded the corner towards the Hokage tower. He supposed he should be more excited, seeing as how this would be his first official Jounin mission. However he also suspected that the Hokage might not trust him enough to hand him an important or difficult mission yet. He couldn't blame her.

Reaching his destination, Sasuke entered the tall building and made his way through the corridors and up the stairs to where he knew was the Hokage's office. Not only did he remember it from his Genin days, but he'd also spent quite a lot of time in that office after he was brought back to Konoha.

He knew he was a little too early, but he wanted to get the briefing over with quickly so he could complete his mission as fast as possible. The more missions he completed, the closer he would be to achieving ANBU rank. Although they were forbidden to reveal this status, Sasuke was certain most of his former Genin rivals were already well-established ANBU, and he wasn't the kind of person to be left behind.

"More cleavage!"

Sasuke stopped himself before he could knock on the door. Did he just hear the Hogake…

"I don't _have_ more!"

That definitely sounded like…

"Then I'm gonna have to teach you my breast enlargement jutsu, Sakura."

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><p>Sakura was excited when she found out Tsunade was finally going to send her on a mission. She liked hospital duty, she really did. Healing people and caring for them was something she enjoyed very much and, quite frankly, something she was very good at. But she was also a shinobi, and like most shinobi she couldn't stand to be in the village for very long. This would be her first mission in almost two months.<p>

Not to mention, now that Sasuke was promoted to Jounin he would most likely be made ANBU soon too. Sakura definitely didn't want to be the weakest member of her team again, and that meant missions. Lots and lots and lots of missions.

"Good morning, Tsunade-sama," she greeted with a grin.

"Morning, Sakura. Well, aren't you all sunshine today. Excited about the mission?"

"You bet!"

Tsunade smirked. She knew why her apprentice was so excited. Good Konoha medics were rare, _excellent_ Konoha medics were even rarer. They were all needed at the hospital, so she avoided sending them on missions unless absolutely necessary. Sakura was one of the best medics, but she had many other qualities as well. Qualities that this mission called for.

"Good. Hold on to that mind set, Sakura. Shizune!"

The door behind her opened and the pinkette turned to greet her fellow medic, but she paused when she saw what the woman was carrying.

"What on earth is that?"

"_That_, Sakura, is what your mission will consist of. Now,"

Tsunade leaned back in her chair and smirked.

"Try it on. We need to make sure it fits you."

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><p>Sakura was absolutely mortified.<p>

Tsunade and Shizune had helped her into that… _thing_, and were now both eyeing her like she was some sort of math equation. She still wasn't told what the mission would consist of, or what this had to do with it. To top it all off, now her mentor was insulting her _breasts_.

"Tsunade-sama, I don't think-"

"Nonsense! The bigger the better."

"But-"

"Tsunade-sama," Shizune intervened, "I agree with Sakura. It might be dangerous to have her keep up that sort of jutsu for too long."

"Hmpf." Tsunade had to admit, her assistant did have a point. "We'll just have to get a third opinion, then."

Sakura wanted to asked for further clarification, but when she heard the Hokage's next words, she froze.

"Uchiha, get in here!"

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><p>Sasuke was ready to leave the Hokage tower and return later, leaving Sakura and Tsunade to do… whatever the hell they were doing in there (he wasn't sure he wanted to know). But just as he turned around, he heard the Hokage's yell.<p>

"Uchiha, get in here!"

Briefly wondering how she knew he was outside her office, he opted for a neutral expression on his face and opened the door.

He had to work on keeping that expression when he saw what he assumed was an image that would forever remain ingrained in his mind.

In the middle of the room was Sakura, which he only recognized by the pink color of her waist-length hair. She had her face buried in her palms and, had he been looking close enough, he would have realized that she was beet red.

But he certainly wasn't looking at her face, since the dominant part of his attention was focused on her body; more specifically, at what she was wearing. She was clad in a black bikini and what could only be described as black harem pants; they were see-through and reached her ankles, while the outer thighs were cut open, revealing her legs. Matching black sleeves went from her elbows to her wrists. Silver coins were strewn across the outfit and appeared to jingle with the slightest movement.

Well, _that_ was something you didn't see every day.

Sakura prayed to every god she knew to just open up the ground and swallow her whole before she died of embarrassment. Seeing Sasuke every day was challenging enough, but him seeing her dressed in… dressed in a _harem outfit_? What the hell! Was Tsunade playing some kind of cruel prank on her? She was so embarrassed that she didn't even dare look at Sasuke. Was he looking at her?

Part of Sakura, the part that was still a little fangirlish about him, was hoping that he was. But the rest of Sakura was _really_ hoping he paid no mind to her, since the last thing she needed to worry about right now was that… situation. Not now when he was starting to consider her a friend.

When a few moments passed with seemingly no reaction from anyone, she risked a peek at Sasuke and nearly squeaked when she saw him staring _very_ intently at her choice of wardrobe. Correction, _her mentor_'s choice. What was he thinking about?

Tsunade's voice cut through the tension in the room like a knife.

"Uchiha, we need a male's opinion. What do you think of Sakura in this outfit?"

Tsunade held back another smirk when said woman full-on glared at her, which proved to be quite the sight considering her face and neck were the exact same color as her hair. 'Another', because she also had to hold back a smirk when she saw the Uchiha's eyes quite clearly widen when he took in her apprentice's look for the first time.

These two were just too much fun.

A few moments passed before Sasuke finally answered. "She looks… fine."

"'Fine'?" the Godaime barked. "What are you, Uchiha, freaking asexual?"

It was Sasuke's turn to glare at her. Sakura had gone back to mortified mode.

"She's my teammate" he offered as an explanation.

This time, Tsunade let her smirk pass. "Of course she is."

"Are you going to give me my mission?"

"Don't snap at me, boy!" The Godaime's smirk had disappeared in favour of a glare. "Sit down! Both of you!"

The two shinobi did as they were told. Sakura quietly breathed a sigh of relief when she realized her mentor had dropped the issue of her outfit. Glancing at Sasuke, she noticed he was determined to look anywhere _but_ at her.

Fine by her.

"You two will form a temporary two-man cell for this mission."

Tsunade unfolded a large document on her desk. It was a map of the Fire Country.

"You will be travelling to the small town of Okama, located here."

Both shinobi looked at the indicated location on the map. The town was about three days' worth of travel from Konoha. Two without making any stops.

"Over the last couple of months several young women from this town appear to have been kidnapped. We _suspect_ they've been kidnapped, since no bodies have been found, however that doesn't exclude the possibility of murder."

"How many women are missing?" Sakura intervened.

"17 that we know of, aged 18 to 25. Possibly more unaccounted for. However,"

Tsunade produced a picture of what appeared to be the outside of a bar.

"Out of these seventeen women, twelve of them worked as dancers in this joint. Too big to be a coincidence. Which brings us to the topic of your outfit, Sakura."

The pinkette silently prayed Tsunade wouldn't make any more embarrassing comments about it.

"You are to pose as a dancer and hopefully attract enough attention to yourself to be kidnapped."

Sasuke frowned.

"I'm going to be a stripper?"

"I said 'dancer'. Not 'stripper'. There is a difference."

"Oh."

"I've chosen you specifically because of your pink hair, which should make you stand out more. Not to mention, you're a very attractive young woman." Tsunade smirked. "I'm sure Sasuke here agrees."

Sakura chose to ignore that last part. "So, if I understand correctly, I'm to get myself kidnapped in order to discover who's behind all these disappearances."

"Bingo."

"Tsunade-sama, I think I'm perfectly capable of completing this mission on my own. There is no need to send Sasuke with me." _'One, because I'm not the weakling that needs constant protection any longer,'_ she mentally added, _'and two, because dancing in a bar in a harem outfit is one of the top five things I never want anyone to see me doing. _Especially _Sasuke.'_

"Actually, we're not really sure as to the difficulty of this mission. There could be any number of people behind this and their level of skill is impossible to guess. It's safer to have an extra person along. He can also keep tabs on some of the patrons and maybe help finish the mission faster. Besides," Tsunade looked pointedly at Sasuke, "he's been itching to go on a mission just as much as you have, Sakura."

For his part, Sasuke suspected that the Hokage simply didn't trust him enough to send him on a mission alone. And who better to keep tabs on him than one of his teammates?

"Tsunade-sama, it's just that…" Sakura bit her lip. "Naruto and I were hoping we could go on a mission as Team 7 again."

Tsunade smiled. "There will always be more missions, Sakura. Besides, I can't give you Naruto. This mission calls for patience and stealth, both of which he has in short supply. He also has his Hokage training sessions to attend to."

"Tsunade-sama," Shizune interrupted, "these 'training sessions' consist of nothing more than you dumping all of your paperwork duty on him so you can have more time to drink and gamble."

"Paperwork is an essential part of being a Hokage," the Godaime answered matter-of-factly. "Anyway, as long as it gets done, it doesn't matter _who_ does it."

"Ahem." Sakura snapped the attention back to the main topic of discussion.

"Right. So, Sasuke, your job is to assist with the discovery of the kidnappers in any way possible and make sure no harm comes to Sakura."

"Hai" said shinobi answered.

"Oh, and one last thing." Tsunade looked pointedly at both of them. "If for whatever reason this mission proves too difficult to continue, report back with your findings and we'll send a larger team. Do _not_ attempt any acts of heroism. Understood?"

They both nodded.

"Any questions?"

No one said anything. Tsunade took that as a 'no'.

"Right, then. Sakura, Shizune and I will have to help you with your dance routine."

"Dance routine?"

"Can't be a dancer without a dance routine, now can you? And since we're trying to get you noticed, it has to be especially good. Uchiha, you're free to go. You will meet up with Sakura at the village gates tomorrow morning at six o'clock."

Said man nodded an affirmative and got up to leave. Just as he was about to (finally) exit that office, the Hokage addressed him again.

"Unless," He turned to look at her. "you want to stay and…" Tsunade smirked, "watch."

Sasuke was out the door so fast it was nearly invisible to the naked eye.

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><p><em><strong>AN: **More of a prologue than an actual chapter, next one will be bigger. Links to pictures of Sakura's harem outfit and more goodies can be found on my profile page. If you enjoyed this chapter, please leave a review :)_


	2. Anticipation

**_A/N:_**_ I apologize for the long wait. I'm not going to bore you with my excuses. Enjoy the chapter :)  
><em>

**_Disclaimer:_**_ _I do not own Naruto.__

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><p>"Hey, Forehead! Over here!"<p>

Sakura made her way towards the table her three female friends were seated at. She supposed she should have skipped their little get-together, seeing as how she had a mission the following morning, and early at that. But the truth was that the girls were rarely in town at the same time nowadays. The last time they all got together was nearly a month ago.

"Hey, Ino-pig! Hinata, Tenten!" Sakura smiled at her friends and sat down.

"About time. I was beginning to think you wouldn't show up at all. Kakashi rubbing off on you, Forehead?" Ino teased.

"Tsunade-shishou assigned me a mission. The, um, _preparation_ took a bit longer than expected."

"New mission? Do tell."

Sakura sighed. "I'm supposed to find out who's behind a series of kidnappings in some Fire Country town."

"Sounds easy enough" quipped Tenten.

"You'd think so. But apparently most kidnappings took place in some sort of dancing joint and now I'm supposed to pose as a dancer there."

"That's awesome!"

"That's t-terrible!" Hinata and Ino both exclaimed at the same time. Upon realizing this, all four girls started giggling.

"Well now we know why you two are friends," said Tenten. "So, Sakura, Tsunade-sama kept you so long to give you some, shall we say, _hints_?"

"It's not _that_ kind of mission" Sakura defended. "I'll just be dancing, that's all. Dressed in a harem outfit, but still, merely a dance. I had to memorize a routine."

"That sounds like _so_ much fun! Too bad I'm swamped with pharmacy research" complained Ino.

"So, are you g-going alone, Sakura?"

"Actually, no. I'm in a two-man cell. And you guys will never guess who's coming with me."

The pinkette was interrupted by a loud noise, caused by the front door of the small Konoha tavern being suddenly thrown open and a certain blond-haired ninja entering.

"SAKURA-CHAN! IS IT TRUE?"

"Oh, dear Kami-sama" said pinkette groaned. _'Here we go…'_

"You're going with _Naruto_?" Tenten asked.

"Worse. It's-"

"Sakura-chan, is it true you and the teme are going on a mission together?"

Naruto managed to find his pink-haired teammate and made his way to their table, dragging Sasuke behind him, who looked like he'd rather be anywhere else at the moment.

"You're going to dance in a harem costume in front of _Sasuke_? Oh that is just _priceless_" exclaimed Ino while trying to contain her laugh, and failing at it. Tenten was having trouble with that too.

Sakura's face grew redder by the second. "Could you guys at least _try_ not to announce the fact to the whole village?"

"But Sakura-chan, we were supposed to have a mission TOGETHER! Me and you and the bastard!"

"Dobe."

"Shut up, teme! I'm trying to reunite our team here, and you don't even care! I thought you cared, Sakura-chan, but …"

"Of course I care, Naruto!" Sakura interjected. "Calm down, would you? I'll explain everything."

"NARUTO" came another loud yell from the door, by a different blonde. "Where the hell have you been? You were supposed to handle paperwork this afternoon!"

"Tsunade baa-chan! I was training with the teme!"

"You should have been training to be Hokage!"

"But all you ever let me do is paperwork!"

"That's an essential part of being Hokage, you brat!"

"You're just too lazy to do it yourself!"

Their conversation might have been tolerable if they weren't yelling at each other from across the tavern.

"GUYS" Sakura loudly interjected. "This is neither the time nor the place."

"Yeah! We were talking about Sakura-chan's mission! Why can't I go?" Naruto whined.

"Because you are loud and brash, and this mission calls for _stealth_."

"But Sakura-chan's gonna be a dancer and the bastard will be all over her! I have to protect her!"

Sakura's face instantly became red. She couldn't decide which of his scandalous accusations to address first. "I-I don't need protection!"

"Dobe, stop spouting nonsense."

"Teme! You better not try something on Sakura-chan, you hear?"

"Hn."

"Enough, Naruto!" Tsunade intervened. "As Hokage, I _order_ you to leave this matter alone and GET THE HELL BACK TO PAPERWORK!"

"But it's eight o'clock!"

"I don't give a rat's ass! If you don't finish your duties as official Hokage trainee I will _personally_ make sure you will _never_ be Hokage, EVER."

With that, a fuming Tsunade turned around and left, with a grumbling Naruto following her. Sasuke quietly made an exit as well, not sparing a glance to anything or anyone else.

"Well, you don't see _that_ every day" Ino said.

Sakura buried her face in her palms and groaned. _'I like my teammates, I like my teammates, I like my teammates…' _she recited the mantra in her head.

"He's right, you know. Sasuke will _totally _be all over you" Ino said off-handedly.

"Ino-pig! Sasuke's not that kind of person."

"Earth to Forehead! He is a _man_. They are all the same."

"And since when are you such an "expert"?"

"It's just common sense."

"I think I know my teammate well enough, thank you."

"Actually Sakura, I kind of agree with crazy-Ino" said Tenten.

"Hmpf. Hinata agrees with me, don't you, Hinata?"

"A-actually, no. I think Ino is right a-as well."

"What? All three of you think Sasuke will suddenly fall in love with me after a _dance_?"

"Oh, you naïve little Forehead!" Ino laughed. "Who said anything about love?"

Sakura blushed. "I didn't mean it like that! I was just being sarcastic!"

"And now you're being defensive" said Tenten. Sakura shot her a dirty look, to which she just smirked.

"Listen, Sakura," Ino started more seriously, "Sasuke may be Sasuke, but he is a grown man like any other man, no matter how hard he may try pretending otherwise. I'm not saying he'll immediately jump you or anything, but if I were you I'd think twice before dismissing this as just another mission."

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><p>Sasuke was <em>pissed<em>.

After the mission briefing (if it could be called that) ended, he decided to find Naruto and train a bit, then go home, prepare for the mission and rest. Instead the dobe kept pestering him about where he had been until he just told him he had a mission.

The idiot went nuts.

Soon their sparring had turned into an interrogation. Naruto, being Naruto, wouldn't stop blabbering and yelling until Sasuke had enough and just told him he would accompany Sakura while she posed as a dancer.

The idiot went even _more_ nuts.

At this point Sasuke just wanted to head home, training be damned, but Naruto had other plans. The idiot wanted to find Sakura and accused Sasuke of not caring about Team 7 and being a traitor all over again if he didn't help.

That hit a sore spot.

So Sasuke followed Naruto around for the better part of the afternoon searching for their female teammate, until Naruto spotted her going into that stupid tavern.

They went in too, and Naruto promptly started yelling.

It was all he could do not to punch the blonde loudmouth all the way to the moon.

So instead he ground his teeth and was determined to act like a human statue until Naruto was finished with his tantrum and left (or was beaten into silence by Tsunade).

"But Sakura-chan's gonna be a dancer and the bastard will be all over her! I have to protect her!"

He had to work at not strangling the idiot to death.

Was _that _what this was all about? Naruto was worried that he'd try something on Sakura? What the hell was he thinking? She was his _teammate_.

When Naruto was _finally_ brought into submission by the Hokage, Sasuke quickly made an escape too, not wanting to face Sakura. Did she think the same thing as Naruto? Was that why she had insisted that she could handle the mission alone? Was she _afraid_ of him?

Maybe not afraid, Sasuke decided. Maybe she just didn't trust him.

Which was, in his opinion, completely justified. He had betrayed them before, after all, and in the worst way possible, at that.

So then he'd just have to take this mission as an opportunity to prove himself, to both Sakura _and_ Naruto. Sakura was his teammate, maybe even his _friend_. Their relationship was purely platonic, and both he and Sakura were content with it that way. So he would do the right thing and keep it the way it is.

It was at that exact moment that the memory of Sakura in her harem outfit popped into his head.

Maybe this mission _was_ a bad idea after all.

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><p>"I just realized something."<p>

Sakura waited for some sort of non-committal reply from the shinobi she had addressed, but then remembered who she was talking to. So she opted to just continue.

"Tsunade-sama didn't tell us if the bar owner knows I'm a Konoha nin or not."

Still no comment. Medical instincts kicking in, Sakura wondered if his larynx might atrophy from the lack of use.

"I guess I'll just play it safe. If he asks, I won't hide it, but if he doesn't say anything then I won't either."

More silence. Did he even hear her? They might be in a forest whizzing past trees, but she knew he had excellent hearing.

"Sasuke, what do you think?" she asked, clearly annoyed.

"Hn."

"Is that _all_ you can say? How about 'Sure, great plan' or 'No, it's a stupid idea'?"

Normally she wouldn't have snapped at him like that, but they had been traveling together for the past few days and his silence was just driving her _crazy_.

"Why do you need my approval?"

Now that took her by surprise. _Of course_ she wasn't "looking for his approval". She was perfectly confident in her reasoning.

"We're teammates. The success of the mission depends on us working together."

"We both know you're capable of completing this mission by yourself. The Hokage doesn't trust me enough to send me on solo missions. You are essentially babysitting me."

Sakura's first thought was _'Holy hell. He just spoke more words to me in ten seconds than he did in the three days we've been traveling.'_

Her second thought was _'Wait. Did he just compliment me?'_

Deciding not to dwell on the implications of that realization, she focused instead on the more immediate concern his words brought.

"I am not babysitting you. Tsunade-shishou knows my abilities better than anyone else and trust me, she knows perfectly well I am capable of completing this by myself. If she sent you along, this means she really has no idea how difficult this mission is."

They didn't get the chance to finish this rather one-sided conversation, because in a few moments they reached the edge of the forest they had been travelling in for the past day.

Both of them skidding to a halt, Sakura reached around in her backpack and took out the Fire Country map Tsunade had given her.

"According to the map, if we head due north from here we should reach the main road in about twenty minutes. Then it's just a matter of following it to the town."

There actually is a road that leads to Okama straight from Konoha, but it would have taken them five days of travel instead of three, as that road went around the forest they had just finished crossing.

Sakura folded the map and put it back in its place, heading for the direction she had just described. She wasn't expecting an answer from Sasuke, and she was proven correct.

A few more days of this and she might just get used to it.

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><p><em><strong>AN: **It's short, but it's the logical place to end it at. As before, links to additional content and goodies related to this story can be found on my profile. Next chapter, the mission begins! Don't forget to review if you enjoyed this chapter! :)  
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